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Founded on the heels of the Ethiopian famine of 1985, MAZON was conceived as a bridge between the abundance in the Jewish community and the desperate need felt by millions of hungry people around the world.
MAZON Founder Leonard Fein recognized the injustice of this disparity – the Jewish community’s annual expenditures on catered celebrations on the one hand, and the devastating Ethiopian famine on the other – and formed MAZON as a response.
MAZON’s history is built on the dedication of past and present employees who sacrifice much for the greater good of others. Grants Director Mia Hubbard and Director of Donor Services Bria Silbert, for example, have served with distinguished professionalism for over 15 years. Irving Cramer, MAZON’s first Executive Director, held that position from 1986, when MAZON distributed $20,000 in cash grants to four hunger-relief organizations, through 1999, when $2.8 million was distributed to hundreds of such organizations. Since then, an annual “Irving Cramer Award” has been given by MAZON to a person selected for outstanding anti-hunger work. MAZON has also been greatly benefited by our second Executive Director, Susan Cramer, who has brought her expertise in grantmaking to enhance the organization. And our noted Vice President and General Counsel, Barbara Bergen, served for over eight years before recently stepping down. In all, the strength and compassion of any charitable organization is a testimony to its staff, board and cadre of devoted grantees
Historically, rabbis did not allow celebrations to begin until the community’s poor and hungry people were seated and fed. MAZON offers Jews a symbolic way to observe this tradition by donating 3% of the cost of life-cycle celebrations, such as bar/bat mitzvahs, weddings, anniversaries and other joyous occasions, to help feed those who are less fortunate.
In the first year of MAZON’s grant making, MAZON distributed $20,000 in cash grants to four hunger-relief organizations. To date, MAZON has made thousands of grants, totaling more than $47 million, to the most effective hunger-relief organizations in the United States, in Israel and in developing countries around the world.
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